In the early hours of November 9th, a new leader of the free world was elected. The American hegemony that serves as a backbone of a vast majority of the globe’s economic, political, and militaristic issues, democratically voted for a new leader to take control.
After a brief look into international political history, you will notice that democracy has grown to become the reigning political system that it is today as it has lasted longer, or simply defeated, most other political ideologies. Francis Fukuyama is famously known for saying that, following the Cold War, the victory of democracy claimed the “end of history,” simply meaning that democracy is the constituted end of humanity’s effort in the search for the final form of human governing. What Fukuyama failed to note however, is that democracy itself, along with the continuation of human interaction, will continue to evolve. The societal reaction to this past election is clear proof that unless American citizens can come together, the evolution of democracy will be a devastating one. Democracy at its core is simply broken down to be a government which is represented by the people, for the people, through elected leaders. No one reading this is just now finally learning the fundamentals of democracy, but what many voters fail to realize is that when you simply lean on the fact that you have a say in this democratic system and don’t supplement that duty by actually finding your own opinion yourself, uneducated biases are created and unnecessary tension between citizens quickly follows. Democracy has reached this point in history, as Fukuyama noted, because citizens have taken on the challenge of discussion, of personal research, and of respectful understanding. A national election is something that will always be weighted heavily to voters, but if we let falsified propaganda and uneducated voting define our democracy, we will redefine the meaning of democracy itself. Nations evolve in belief systems, political actions, and social norms, all which we hope lead to the progression of society, but these changes must not supplement change in a political system that has brought people together in decision making for centuries. This election was undoubtedly one of the most historic and controversial in history, as it weighed some of the most influential and crucial aspects of presidency than ever before; this however does not mean our nation should be as ripped apart as it is today. When following the great ideology of democracy people must work together, talk together, and then come up with ideas and political reforms and social changes that, first, follow the United States Constitution, and also bring citizens together instead of giving them a reason to hate whatever political side they don’t vote for. All of this truly has nothing to do with the outcome of the election, because had either presidential candidate won the presidency, there would still be hatred and misunderstanding ensuing from a large part of the population. Isaac Asimov put this issue very clearly when he said, “the strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winging its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by a false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” The point he is trying to make is that you cannot follow the basic guidelines of a democratic system if ignorance and bias rooted from false information is backing your voting, because this leads to a voting system not in line with democracy in the first place. The goal of the next United States election should be to once again vote as a nation coming together for the betterment of America’s future, and a future where we don’t walk away from the election more deeply torn than ever before. This will only happen if voters actualize their responsibility of what it means to vote democratically, and what it means to civilly understand the opposing political side.
